Custom Pin Back Buttons for Valley Stream, New York

Every order placed from this end of Nassau County starts with one honest decision: do you want to collect the buttons in person, or do you want them shipped to you? There is no clever answer. Collecting suits people who were already going to be out that way for something else. Shipping suits everyone else, and for a shop owner in Valley Stream it is usually the sensible default, because a box of buttons is small, light and easy to take in at a counter. The number behind that choice comes further down this page.

What is on offer here

Full colour pin back buttons, printed from artwork you upload, in one of five round sizes and nothing else. This page is written with small retailers in mind: loyalty pins handed out at the register, a promo run sitting in a bowl by the door, a badge on a staff apron.

Working out whether collecting is worth it

Valley Stream sits 22.2 miles from the shop in a straight line, to the south west. That is a measurement across the map, not a route and not a figure in minutes, and the road distance will be longer. This is not a corner errand. If you were not going to be out in that direction anyway, let the order ship. If you do have a reason to be up that way, free local pickup removes the shipping charge entirely.

Shipping is a flat tier set by the total number of buttons on the order, not by weight, not by distance and not by which of the two ZIP codes, 11580 or 11583, the box is going to. Up to 100 buttons it is $9.99. Up to 250 it is $14.99. Up to 500 it is $19.99. Up to 1000 it is $24.99. Because the tiers step at round counts, glance at where your order lands. An order sitting just under 500 pays $19.99, and one that passes 500 steps into the $24.99 tier. Near a boundary, either trim back under it or add enough to make the higher tier worth paying for.

An unusually tight cluster of neighbours

Most towns we cover have their nearest neighbour a few miles off. Here the nearest is South Valley Stream, 0.9 miles away, close enough that two businesses on either side of that line are effectively on the same block as far as an order is concerned. Hewlett is 1.6 miles out, Lynbrook 1.9 and Malverne 2.0. That density has a practical use: shipping is priced by the count of buttons on a single order, so two or three retailers who know each other can place one combined order, split the box between them and pay one shipping charge instead of three.

To be clear about what that does and does not do. Splitting a run across separate orders splits the count that earns the discount, which is the new reason to keep it together. The only thing it changes is that you pay one flat shipping charge rather than several.

The five sizes and what each one tends to be used for

There are five sizes. The 1.5 inch button is $1.89 each. The 2.25 inch button is $1.99 each. The 3 inch button is $2.49 each. You no longer have to guess where the break sits, which means you can order your real number and then look up whether a few more would cost less. At the small end the 1 inch is $1.49 and the 1.25 inch is $1.69, which are the two worth looking at when the count is high and the design is simple.

The 1.5 inch reads as a badge rather than a statement, and it works for a logo mark, a short word, or a loyalty symbol a customer clips to a bag strap. The 2.25 inch is the size most retail promo runs settle on, because it holds a logo plus a line of text and is still small enough that people wear it. The 3 inch is what you pick when the artwork has to carry detail: a shopfront illustration, a date, a slogan and a logo all at once.

A worked order, with the real arithmetic

Four hundred of the 2.25 inch button at $1.49 each, the published 250 to 499 figure, comes to $596.00 in buttons. Four hundred falls in the up to 500 shipping tier, so shipping is a flat $19.99, and the order comes to $615.99 before tax.

Two things are worth noticing. The button subtotal is simply the unit price multiplied by the count, with nothing else applied to it, so you can price any run yourself with a calculator and the figures above. And 400 sits inside its shipping tier with headroom, so if a second location wanted in on the same run there is room to add without the shipping charge moving.

Artwork that sits well in a circle

The printed sheet wraps around the edge of the shell, so the outer rim of your artwork curves away from the viewer. Keep anything that must be read, a phone number, a web address, a date, well inside the middle of the circle. Fill the whole square you upload with colour or pattern and let the wrap take what it takes. Full colour costs the same as one colour, so there is no reason to simplify artwork for price.

If you run a clothing boutique

A loyalty pin works best when it looks like something a customer would wear without being asked. Put the shop mark on a 1.5 inch button, keep the palette to the two colours already on your bags and signage, and hand them out at the register rather than putting them on a shelf.

If you run a coffee counter or bakery

A bowl of 2.25 inch buttons by the register gets picked up. Splitting one size across several designs costs nothing, because the designs are added together for the discount.

If you run a barbershop or salon

Staff pins do double duty here. A 2.25 inch button with a first name reads as a name badge, and the same artwork on a 3 inch button works as a window or mirror piece. Ordering both sizes together puts them on one count for the shipping tier.

If you run a record shop, bookshop or market stall

This is the case for the 3 inch button. Artwork with a lot going on, a cover reference, a genre joke, a stall name and a date, needs the room. The rate for every band is published up front, so a test design is not a commitment.

Questions that come up most often

Is it worth driving in from Valley Stream to collect, or should I just have the order shipped?

If you have another reason to be heading in that direction, collect and save the shipping charge. If you do not, ship it. A trip made only to pick up a small box rarely pays for itself over that kind of distance.

Can two shops in Valley Stream put their buttons on one order?

Yes, and it is the main reason to coordinate. Shipping is charged once per order against the total button count, so one combined order of two designs pays a single flat shipping charge. Split the box between you after it arrives.

Does ordering a bigger run from Valley Stream bring the price per button down?

It does, in three steps. Different designs of the same size add together for the discount. Different sizes never do. The 1.5 inch buttons are $1.89 each up to ninety-nine and $1.32 each once that size reaches 500, which is the whole of the difference. There is a step on the buttons and a step on the postage, and they are not the same step.

Which size should a Valley Stream retailer pick for a giveaway at the register?

The 2.25 inch at $1.99 is the usual pick, because it holds a logo and a line of text and is still comfortable to wear. Go to 1.5 inch if the artwork is a bare logo mark, and to 3 inch if there is real detail to show.

Does it matter whether my Valley Stream address is in 11580 or 11583?

No. Shipping is a flat tier set by the number of buttons on the order, so both ZIP codes pay the same. The only choice that changes the shipping line is collecting in person, which removes it.